The Book Booth is a weekly feature at The Political Carnival, relating news, notes, and reflections from the world of books and publishing. SeattleDan, along with his wife, SeattleTammy, are operators of both an on-line bookstore, as well a brick and mortar in small town Washington State. Both have been in the book business since shortly after the Creation, or close to 6000 years now.

Monday we salute those folk who have defended our country in battle and I hope you will take a moment to reflect on their deeds. And hope there will be a day when no one will have to serve in battle to preserve our freedoms.

I grew up reading comic books. I preferred DC superhero comics as Marvel Comics hadn't really taken off when I was at that age. But I also devoured the Classics Illustrated editions as well, most of which actually followed the plot lines of the novels that were adapted. So I welcome the emergence of the graphic novel. ABEBooks has a fine list (and a mini-review of Maus) of fifty graphic books.

One of our finest American novelists is Robert Stone. I highly recommend his novels, Dog Soldiers and A Flag for Sunrise. Or almost anything he's written. So it is exciting to learn he has a new novel being published this month, Death of a Black-Haired Girl. Publishers Weekly has this interview with him here.

Thanks for the recommend, Mark. I think Kevin Bacon is an under-rated actor and this one does sound great. And by all means, check out Robert Stone.

Dan Domike

Dennis Lehane, if you haven't read him, is great, Paddy.

Paddy

Okay, I've caught up with all the Michael Connollys, Robert Crais, Harlan Coban, Lee Child and a couple others I can't remember right now. Any other thriller/detective series I should give a look see? And yes, I'm making up for lost time.

Paddy

I heard incredible things about that movie, but I'm just not emotionally able to deal with such sadness right now.

Mark MacKay

Thanks for a great read and your cool links. I will be stealing and retweeting some and will investigate Robert Stone. I saw the movie "Taking Chance" this morning. Kevin Bacon stars as a Marine escorting a young Marine's remains home after he was killed in Iraq. It's a very quiet film and shows Bacon's interactions with strangers along the 8-day trip to the young Marine's home. After watching it for about ten minutes I started to tear up and felt that way throughout the film. There's not any chest thumping or bible thumping in the film. Bacon's character is reviewing his life while on this journey and simple gestures from strangers generate some profound feelings.

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